The Rendezvous Ch 04

Celebs: Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen. Codes: FF, FFF, F+, cons, reluc, oral, fist, mast, exh, voy, viol.

Disclaimer: This story contains graphic sexual situations and adult themes and is therefore not suitable for those under age 18 or the close-minded. It may be illegal in some areas too. :( Please also note that it is not a true story, instead merely a fantasy. Real events may be referenced and real names, likenesses, and other personal details of celebrities and other real people may be part of the story- however they are used in a fictional manner styled to the author's liking that may be satirical at times. The author has never met any of the celebrities used herein, so he has no way of knowing if they really act the way they do in the story, and is confident that they probably don't. One hopes that these facts do not keep you, the reader, from enjoying the story.

Acknowledgements: Thanks as usual to all who have aided in the creation of this story, even those who have done so without knowing it. Thanks also to those who maintain sites for stories like this, and to all those who write for them, read them, and otherwise keep them alive. Thanks especially goes out to those who have sent this author feedback. If after reading this story you desire to do the same, please email feedback to me at the address in my profile. All feedback, with the exception of flames and spam, will be answered and appreciated. I hope you like this story. If not, please tell me why you didn't so I may learn of my mistakes.

Copyright: This story is my creation. All other stories which are referenced or otherwise paid homage herein belong to their respective creators. This story may be posted anywhere on the Internet that is free to access and has my permission- please email me for such. The inclusion of this disclaimer and proper credit will be all that I ask.

Notes: This story takes place during the making of the 2005 movie "The Upside of Anger." You may want to see that movie to get some of the in-jokes. It's also a pretty good movie, so you might be entertained, who knows? The story is related to the movie, but it is not based on it. Instead it's just a story where four young actresses begin a project together, resolve their differences, and then do some other things. ;D Special thanks to Nero, Victoria, and others for help with the story when needed.

That said, on with the show!

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"Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That's what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It's real, though - the fury, even when it isn't. It can change you... turn you... mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside to anger, then... is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid to take the journey, someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits, and in its wake, leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child."

- Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer (Evan Rachel Wood), The Upside of Anger.

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The Rendezvous.

London, England. Late September 2003.

"Ah, there you are," a man's voice caught the two girls as they exited the dressing room several minutes later. Both had straightened their hair and clothing, carefully erasing all the evidence of their activities that they could. They had remembered they were supposed to be rehearsing, and now here was another reminder.

"Hey, Mike," Keri smiled, turning to face the director.

"Hey," Evan said. "What's up?"

"A lot of things," Mike Binder grimaced, looking back and forth at each of them. "I wanted to talk to all of you over an hour ago, so I came down to the sitting room. I found no one there. I called Erika, and she told me you'd all gone to lunch. I said that was fine, just to get back to me the minute you all returned. Then, well..." He paused, staring at both of them. "Erika was the only one who showed up an hour later."

Keri's eyes widened. "Uh, sorry," she said. "Evan and I went out, then we came back here, and we got to talking." Evan's eyes were also wide with shock.

"It's fine," Mike assured them quickly, his voice carrying a low chuckle. "I said I wanted you to get close to one another, didn't I?"

"Yes," Evan nodded. She looked at Keri. "Yes, you did."

"And you are, obviously," Mike laughed. "That's good. Better than I expected. I hope you'll keep that chemistry for the movie. Take it slow. You'll have plenty of time to fortify things. We're not even breaking out the cameras till next week."

"Good," Keri said, feeling something settle inside her. She was glad for her new closeness with Evan and Alicia, but she knew she didn't want their director finding out how deep it really was. They would have to be very careful. Mike can help us, though, she realized. Even if he doesn't know. "Have you talked to Alicia?" she asked.

Mike frowned. "I called all three of you. There was no answer at Evan's phone or yours."

"Mine's unplugged," Keri said, belatedly realizing she had never reconnected it after her earlier masturbation.

"Well, plug it back in," the director ordered. "I need to get in touch with you." He looked at Evan, raising an eyebrow. "I also tried your cell phones and pagers."

"We were busy talking," said Evan. Keri guessed that like her pager and cell phone, Evan's were set on vibrate.

Mike looked away from them, scratching the back of his neck. "Yes, well..." he said, "pay more attention, okay?" He dropped his hand. "In any case, I did get through to Alicia. She said she wanted to take the rest of the day off, think about something. She didn't say exactly what it was, but I gathered it was very important."

"She broke up with Dave," Keri supplied, improvising. "They had an argument. There was a lot of yelling."

"Oh." Mike's eyes widened. "I see. Good. I never did like that boy." He smiled. "Oh, by the way, I also found out someone assigned a male janitor to this area. I'm sorry about that, it was an oversight. He's been transferred."

"Thank you," Keri said, realizing she had forgotten about Ted. Damn it, she thought. What else was she forgetting?

"I gave Alicia the rest of the day off," Mike shrugged. "She wanted it, I was upset at first, but then she told it was important. I can give it to you as well, if you feel you need it. It's late and since you've obviously made so much progress already..."

"Mike," Evan interrupted, and he looked at her. Evan smiled, then asked a question. "You remember how back on American Gothic you somehow used to give the whole cast a personal day or two to go outside the studio, get to know each other on their own? And when they came back, they had better chemistry?"

"Yes," the director nodded, musing. His fingers tapped his chin. "I started doing that on Blankman. Another director suggested it to me. Scorsese, I think it was, or Spielberg. I had to do it a lot on Londinium and Sex Monster. Both times it worked well." He frowned, then looked at them. "I'm not sure we should do it this soon, though. You haven't even met Joan yet, or Kevin."

"We can meet them later," Keri said, catching Evan's train of thought. "Just give us the rest of today and tomorrow off. Then we'll come back and meet the whole cast, and things will be great. Right, Evan?"

"Give the same time to Alicia and Erika too," the young girl put in. "We'll tell them for you, and we'll get Alicia back here okay. We promise."

Mike looked back and forth at each of them for a long moment. Keri felt her mind racing. Would it work? Would he really...

"I don't know that Erika needs..." the director began. Then he shrugged. "Oh well, perhaps she does. She was a little miffed to be the only one who came back. She was upset over her brother's plane being delayed too, it won't be in till tomorrow. If you think a personal day will help you... alright, take it. Just be back here on Friday at ten, all of you. We'll have a full cast meeting in my office, discuss the film."

"Sounds like a plan," Keri nodded, smiling gratefully at Evan. "Uh, where is Erika anyway? Do you know?"

"She went back to her dressing room." Mike waved at a door next to the room they had just exited. "She said she wanted to practice on her own. I went to my office, made some calls. Then I decided to come find you, discuss all this and what to do next. I guess now I know." He grinned.

"We'll take care of things," Keri said, grimacing. She did not care for Mike much, though she knew she could still work with him. Maybe if they worked long enough together, things could improve. She'd gotten along fine with Mike's brother, who had been a director back on Felicity. Evan also seemed to get along fine with him, and Alicia and Erika. They could make things work. If, of course, they could keep what they had begun doing hidden from Mike. And everyone else other than the four of them. It would be difficult, yet easy. They would just have to take things one step at a time.

"Good," Mike said. "See that you do." He frowned then, raising his hand. "Listen, I'm glad you're making so much progress. This is rather quick, but good. I'm almost inclined to ask what exactly it is you've been doing together."

"We've just been talking and rehearsing, Mike," Keri said quickly, recalling several similar moments with JJ Abrams. She waved a hand at Evan, noticing her wide eyes. "That's it."

"Oh," Mike laughed, massaging the back of his neck again. "Well, then, perhaps you can help some of my other actors with their parts. I'd love to work with people like you more often." He grinned, gesturing with his hand. "Good luck with Alicia and Erika. I'll see you on Friday at ten."

Keri nodded. "See you." She waited till the director had walked away and disappeared around the corner before letting out a deep sigh of relief. "That was close."

"Yeah," Evan said. "Do you think he..." She paused. "Suspects something?"

"Maybe," Keri frowned, clenching her teeth. Mike did strike her as a pretty smart guy, even if a lot of his writing wasn't too great. He might have guessed what was going on, maybe even... No, she decided. Best not to think about it. He can't know everything. Until he brings it up, and he probably won't, we best not worry. "For now, let's not worry about it," she voiced her thoughts aloud.

"Okay," Evan agreed. "You're right. I never worried with Mischa, or Nikki, or anyone else- not much anyway." She frowned and looked at Keri, then at the door to Erika's dressing room. "You still want to talk to Erika about this?"

"Yes," Keri said after a moment of thought. "Yes, I do." She walked over to the door and knocked softly on it. "Erika? Are you in there?"

"You talking to me?!" a voice called out from the other side of the door. "You talking to me?! Well, I'm the only one here! Who the hell you think you're talking to?"

Keri stopped, looking at Evan. "What the..."

"Taxi Driver," Evan said, smiling. "I do it too. It really helped me become Tracy and Jessie. I'm sure it will help even more when I do Pretty Persuasion. Kimberly Joyce is so different from the person I really am."

"You talking to me?" Erika's voice rang out from behind the door again. "You talking to me? Of course you're talking to me!"

"Taxi Driver," Keri said, thinking back to the classic film. She'd only seen it a few times, didn't particularly like it. It was too brutal, too disturbing. De Niro was good though.

"Why, yes," Erika's voice came from behind the door again, a bit softer but still audible. "I would be Andy. Andy Wolfmeyer. I've just graduated from high school and I work at a radio station. I do not want to go to college. I date and sleep with an older man. It's fun. It's naughty. My mother says I can't do it, that it's wrong."

Erika paused, then repeated her earlier statement. "I can't do it, it's wrong. I know it's wrong, that's why I'm cold and distant with the man. I fake my orgasms. It takes me over a year to get up the courage to tell the man this. I am a coward. I do not suffer the little death. I fake orgasms. I fake enjoying sex. I fake orgasms."

Keri raised her eyebrows at the words, looking at Evan with a disturbed expression. The younger girl shrugged. Clearly she did not know what to make of things. Keri raised her fist and tapped on the door again, harder. "Erika! Erika, it's Keri and Evan! Are you in there?!"

There was a pause, and the words stopped. "Hey Keri!" Erika's voice called out after a moment of silence. "Sorry, I was getting into character. Come on in, the door's open."

Rolling her eyes at Evan, Keri reached for the knob, then turned it and entered. Evan followed behind her looking a bit hesitant. Keri roved her eyes around the room, noting its similarities to hers and Alicia's. Same furniture, same amount of clothes, suitcases, and other stuff strewn about. The room was cluttered, but in a way that looked organized. Probably only Erika knows exactly where everything is, Keri thought. That's usually the case with people like her. She's nuts, once again I am seeing evidence of that... I... She stopped, noticing the centerpiece of the room.

Erika stood there, her back to them as she faced the mirror on the vanity table. Only her chair was between her and the other two girls. Erika was completely nude, her clothes discarded in a pile by the side of the vanity table. Her pale skin shone with the flourescent lights of the room and its own inner radiance.

Oh my, Keri gasped, a hand coming to her mouth as her eyes instinctively roamed over Erika's body. Skin white and mostly clear, figure voluptuous with curves and muscles. Large breasts, topped by hard pink nipples. Legs supple, a fertile V of blond wisps between them. Hair hanging loose, reddish blonde and curly. Mouth smiling over her shoulder at them, blue eyes slyly alight. "Hey," Erika Christensen grinned.

"Hi..." Keri grimaced, realizing Evan was staring too. "Uh..."

Evan blurted in, talking rapidly. "You do Taxi Driver naked?"

Erika shrugged. "It helps me concentrate." She spun to face them, waving her hands and smiling. She looked down at herself, then at them, then down at herself again. A blush came over her. "You want to close the door?"

Keri tore her eyes away from the blonde actress, looking at Evan. The young girl slammed the room's door quickly, flicking its deadbolts shut in the same motion. Keri turned her eyes back to Erika, then quickly looked away at the wall, thoughts racing. Erika's smart, she realized, and with this dressing room's geography, she could have heard a lot of things, depending on how often she's come in here today. This dressing room is right next to Alicia's, and on the other side is my dressing room. Where Evan and I just... oh my. She may know. The way she greeted us just now, she may know.

Evan elbowed her in the side, and she turned to face the young girl. Evan shrugged, then jerked at her head at Erika. Right, Keri nodded, catching her new friend's thoughts. We best take this as it comes.

Letting her breath out, she turned back to face Erika. Keri let out a sigh of relief, seeing the blonde had picked up a gray silk kimono covered with designs of bamboo and tigers from a rack beside the vanity table and slipped it on over her naked body. She was still smiling though, that sensual knowing look in her eyes. She turned the chair and plopped down in it, grinning and then crossing her legs. The hem of her robe rode up as she did this, reminding Keri of the most famous scene from Basic Instinct. Damn it, Keri's mind raced. The hottest scene in that film, and Erika's way prettier than Sharon Stone. Younger, a better actress, not a smoker, hopefully not as crazy. I pray that she's not as crazy anyway. If she pulls some strange Scientologist trick on us...

Erika's voice caught her attention as the other girl grabbed her knee and pulled it up against her body, smiling at them over her clenched hands. "Hey," she said again. "You stood me up, you know."

"Sorry," Evan said, stepping around Keri, moving to the couch and sitting down. Her voice was nervous, but growing in courage. "We got involved with something." She tapped the cushion beside her and Keri nodded, hurrying over and sitting down.

"Alicia did too," Erika grinned, shrugging and flicking a hand nonchalantly. "It happens. Did Mike talk to you?"

"Yes," Keri said, trying to keep her words short. "Yes, he did." Better explain everything, she thought. "Mike put us on personal time until the cast meeting in his office at ten on Friday. We're supposed to do whatever we want till then, just get to know each other."

"Steve Soderbergh did that with the cast on Traffic," Erika smiled. "Bob Dolman did it too when I was on Banger Sisters. I wasn't expecting it here, but it's good."

"It's a common practice," said Evan. "We did it all the time on Once & Again and Thirteen."

"JJ had us do it on Felicity too," Keri said. "Aaron Spelling is also known for it."

"Hey," Erika shrugged, "I'm not denying that it works." She looked back and forth at them, eyes blinking rapidly. "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

Keri and Evan paused, looking at each other. How much did Erika know about them? Keri wondered. How much had she guessed? How much should they really tell her? What should they do? Blurt out everything all at once? Forget it, leave the room quickly? Take it slow, she decided, remembering that people best learned on a gradient. One step at a time.

Keri took a breath, then turned back to the others. "Um," she began, gesturing with one hand, "this is going to sound weird." Erika raised an eyebrow, her lips turning down a bit.

"We've been talking about you," Evan jumped in. "And we think you may have been hiding things from us."

Erika frowned, putting a hand to her breast. "Hiding things? You mean with acting?"

"Yeah," Keri replied with a grimace, hoping she and Evan were on the same wavelength. "Before Evan and I met you today we had preconceptions about you. We'd heard a lot about you, and people like you, but now we're getting to know you, and well..."

"I'm different, aren't I?" Erika smirked. "That's the problem we've all had. You typecast me before you even met me, isn't that right?"

"Yes," Keri nodded, shocked by the truth of the blonde's words.

"We have," Evan said. "We're sorry. It's just..."

"I know," Erika interrupted. "The media, my religion, my roles, everything." She rolled her eyes. "Look, all those little details about me, all those little facts, they're important but they're irrelevant. I'm someone different. Can you understand what I'm saying?

"Yes," Keri nodded. They could now at least.

"My religion's helped me a lot," Erika went on, "especially as an actress. I don't like the bad stuff about it, though. If I had the choice, I'd do away with all of it. But I can't, it's there. I have to be aware of it, see things as they are. You will never solve any problems if you refuse to see things as they are."

Keri and Evan both nodded. Very true, Keri thought. But how many people really look at who they are, what they're doing? I know I don't do it that often. Does Erika? Evan? Alicia? Mike?

"Things take a lot of work, too," Erika went on, her eyes roaming over them. Keri felt she was assessing them, looking deep into their souls and smiling at what she found there. "Especially relationships. People have to work up the courage to come together and then they have to talk, connect, before they can do anything else. There are so many barriers, especially labels. No one likes being labeled, especially not me. That's the reason for a lot of my angst, a lot of my anger. If you think about it, though, labels can apply to all of us equally." She paused, expression changing as she looked at them. "This isn't what you really came to talk to me about, right?"